1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,279 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuffworks 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. And 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: it is a new year, so it's time to build 5 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,400 Speaker 1: a new you, to change the way you interact with 6 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:24,280 Speaker 1: the world and hack that brain. Right, that's right. That's 7 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: why we have an episode of all sorts of tweaks 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: that you can make. And before we launch into that, 9 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: I wanted to just let you guys know of a 10 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:40,160 Speaker 1: new quick and dirty hack, and it's chewing gum. Huh yeah. Uh. 11 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,880 Speaker 1: Forbes has an interesting article called Chew Yourself a Better 12 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,519 Speaker 1: Brain by David Dissolvo, and it really talks about increasing 13 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 1: blood flow to the brain, which can have all sorts 14 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: of consequences and uh. In the article, Dissolvo outlines these merits, 15 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: these consequences of gum chewing. We're talking about boosting memory, mood, 16 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: and decreasing anxiety. But it does have its drawbacks, and 17 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: the drawbacks have to do with test taking, because it 18 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: turns out it's really important to chew that gum about 19 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: twenty minutes before you take that test, but spit it 20 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: out when you take the test because apparently the chewing 21 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: of the gum and the thinking at the same time, 22 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: it's too much of an energy drain. Interesting. You know, 23 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: I used to chew gum all the time here at 24 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 1: work while I was researching and writing and all. But 25 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: then I kind of phased it out about it about 26 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:29,120 Speaker 1: two years ago. Yeah, come um, it just seemed it 27 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: seemed like it was getting excessive, Like maybe I shouldn't 28 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: be cheering gum all the time. And I think you 29 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: gotta talking to you about all that gum underneath your desk, right, 30 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean I couldn't fit my leg I 31 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:41,479 Speaker 1: can only fit my legs under my desk by putting 32 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: them into two like tubes that were free of gums. Yeah. 33 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: Well that's what happens when you choose bubblicious. Indeed. Indeed, 34 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: all right, so here you go. Maybe you didn't have 35 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: your brain last year, but here are the recommendations once more. 36 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: You know, Julie, we are in a new year, essentially 37 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: a new studio, whole new set of rules. In a sense, 38 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: its new year. Everybody is talking about, uh, you know 39 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: what you're gonna change, How this year is going to 40 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: be different last year? We're just gonna go to write 41 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: that one off. But this year, this is the year 42 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: it's gonna happen, or this is the year it's not 43 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: gonna happen. I swear, Okay, blank slate, folks, how are 44 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: you going to fill it in? What you're gonna do, 45 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: what you're gonna change. Yeah, we have an artificial new 46 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: starting virtue of the calendar. So so yeah, what what 47 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: does it take to change behavior? That's the big question. 48 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: And a lot of people have put in another two 49 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: cents on this. A lot of people have sold their 50 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,399 Speaker 1: two cents on this to a public that is ever 51 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: interested in changing themselves for the better. Well, first of all, 52 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: there's that three week myth that persists, this idea that 53 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: in order to change a habit or make a new one, 54 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: all you need is twenty one days consecutive of days 55 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 1: and boom, there you go. You are now going to 56 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: be a Mandarin expert or some other uh jiu jitsu 57 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 1: warrior of knowledge and something. Yeah, which, of course is 58 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: ridiculous when you pair it up with the with the 59 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,799 Speaker 1: other addedge, you hear a lot about ten thousand hours, 60 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: isn't it ten thousand hours towards something and you'll be 61 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: you'll be, you'll be great at it. Ten thousand hours, 62 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:25,839 Speaker 1: a good bit longer than twenty one days. But where 63 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:27,799 Speaker 1: does the twenty one days thing come from? Well, you 64 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: start trying to track it down, you kind of lose 65 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 1: your path in the in the history. But it seems 66 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: to have grown increasingly popular back in the nineteen seventies 67 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: due to a self help book called psycho Cybernetics, which 68 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: sounds like a good source. Who wouldn't trust the bettering 69 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: of their their their, their, their humanity to a book 70 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: called psycho Cybernetics and from the seventies, from the seventies, 71 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: which I'm just I haven't looked it up yet, but 72 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: I can already imagine that the cover to that book, 73 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: because I have looked at some nineteen seventies books on 74 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: self help. Yeah, and again that's where this idea came from. 75 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: The self help boat said, Hey, just twenty one days, 76 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: that's all it takes. But as we're going to discuss, 77 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: it's much more complex than that, and we'll get to 78 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: an idea of what it takes in terms of days, 79 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: the consecutive amount of time. But before we do that, 80 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 1: let's talk about the habit loop and what's happening inside 81 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:22,239 Speaker 1: of our brains. New York Times business writer Charles Doig says, 82 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: habit loops they contain three parts. Okay, First, there's a 83 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: cue or a trigger that tells your brain to go 84 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: into automatic mode and let a behavior unfold. Okay. Second, 85 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: he says, there's the routine, which is the behavior itself. 86 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: And then the third step, he says, is the reward, 87 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: something that your brain likes that helps it to remember 88 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: that habit loop in the future. So like an example 89 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,920 Speaker 1: of this would be the trigger. What's setting this off is, oh, 90 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: I feel kind of low energy in the afternoon, and 91 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: then what should I do? All Right, the automatic behavior 92 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: is I should go and have a soda. I'm gonna 93 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: have the big sugary grape soda. And then the reward 94 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: where it is I feel at least a temporary boost 95 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,000 Speaker 1: due to all that sugar in my body. Right, And 96 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: if you keep doing that over and over again, eventually 97 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: those cues, those environmental cues will start to work on you. 98 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:14,039 Speaker 1: You know, maybe it's three o'clock and you're tired and 99 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: you need that break, and you get that you look 100 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:17,840 Speaker 1: at the clock and you see that's three o'clock, and 101 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 1: that becomes one of the cues that adds up in 102 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: this database of I want the soda. Yeah, it's time 103 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: for the soda. The soda. Time to to press the 104 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: hot key on soda behavior. Now, in part, we can 105 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: trace habit making back to the basil ganglia, which also 106 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: plays a key role in the development of emotions, memories, 107 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: and pattern recognition. So decisions meanwhile, though, they are made 108 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: in the prefrontal cortex. And this is really interesting. As 109 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: soon as a behavior becomes automatic, the decision making part 110 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: of your brain goes into a kind of sleep mode. Yeah. 111 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:52,960 Speaker 1: And and in this the basil gangla is the essentially 112 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,279 Speaker 1: it takes the behavior and turns it into an automatic routine. 113 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: It's essentially a hot key, you know, like like when 114 00:05:57,640 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: you're using Photoshop or any other program, you have that 115 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: hot key, like you know, it's all control or whatever. 116 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: I used to have a zillion of a memorize when 117 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: I was using in design for a living. And uh, 118 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: and so you just go to this automatic behavior, all right, 119 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 1: just push these these quick keys and we'll do some 120 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: sort of automatic function on the page you're working on. Uh. 121 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: And we do that in our lives. We do that 122 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: when because we're driving to work, as we're trying to 123 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: navigate the hallways of our house without you know, busting 124 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: our elbow and something. Well, Andrewig says that there's a 125 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 1: real um boon to us when we do that, because 126 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: in a sense, your brain starts working less and less, 127 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: and he says, the brain can almost completely shut down. 128 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: And this is an advantage because it means that you 129 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 1: have all of this mental activity that you can devote 130 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:40,479 Speaker 1: to something else. It's why you can listen to stuff 131 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: about your mind while walking to the bus station, while 132 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: driving to work, or while doing you know, data entry 133 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: in an Excel spreadsheet. Right, So because it's all this 134 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 1: has become habituated and wrote and routinized, and we need 135 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: all this stuff, right, we need this kind of predictability. 136 00:06:57,440 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: But of course the problem becomes when we want to 137 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: change that Hagar and he says that if you want 138 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: to change it or create a new one, you have 139 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: to game those three aspects. So you have to gain 140 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: that trigger or that queue and know that it could 141 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: be boredom or that you're tired, and acknowledge that that 142 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: is the reason, not just that it's three o'clock and 143 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 1: it's time for that soda. You kind of have to 144 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: break it down and kind of go slow mo with 145 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 1: your thinking. Um. He also said that you have to 146 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: disrupt the routine and the reward. You have to figure 147 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: that out too. You have to say, Okay, fine, this 148 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 1: might give me a temporary lift, but how gross am 149 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: I going to feel a half hour later when all 150 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: that sugar is sitting in my belly? Um. And then 151 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: he also said that you can replace that reward, so 152 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,239 Speaker 1: instead of having that soda, you could take a walk. 153 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: And this was really helpful to me when I quit drinking, actually, 154 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: because I had noticed that between the hours of six 155 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: and eight pm at nine that were sort of my 156 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: witching hours, and I would go and work out instead 157 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: of reaching for a glass of wine. Uh. And that's 158 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: replaced that reward for me, and it disrupted the routine, 159 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: So it was really helpful. Yeah. I mean, he stresses 160 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: that with a lot of things are related to behavior. 161 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 1: A lot of it is just realizing the patterns of behavior, 162 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 1: being able to look in the mirror and and be 163 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: self aware of what's going on. And you have to remember, 164 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: we've talked about this a lot before. That these are 165 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 1: neural pathways that once you just have it over and 166 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: over again, they become really grooved in your brain. Okay, 167 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: so that is a pathway that's easy for those signals 168 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: to trot upon. So if you do it less, then 169 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: it becomes you know, the strength of those pathways decreases. 170 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,200 Speaker 1: It will always be there because you created the pathway. Yeah, 171 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: and and ultimately it's creating new behaviors. Forging new pathways, 172 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: it's easier as opposed to getting rid of old ones. 173 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: I mean, you can think of a think of it 174 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,559 Speaker 1: in terms of art. You have a road between two cities. 175 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: At what are you gonna do? Are you gonna shut 176 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: down one road completely and then build another one that 177 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:52,960 Speaker 1: you're gonna You're gonna build an additional road and then 178 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 1: you're gonna sort of and then then that new road 179 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:57,440 Speaker 1: is going to replace the old one. If you just 180 00:08:57,520 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: cut off the road, then how are we gonna get 181 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: where we're going? How am I going to deal with 182 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 1: the the trigger effect of needing that soda in the afternoon. 183 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: I like that idea that there are parallel paths and 184 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: that's how you replace the one after a while, and 185 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,199 Speaker 1: you kind of put those detour signs. On the other one, 186 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,880 Speaker 1: it always exists with the detour signs. Yeah. Um. And 187 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,679 Speaker 1: that's one of the problems with any sort of habit 188 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: that you pick up again a bad habit, is that 189 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: as soon as you you engage in that behavior, those 190 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: pathways go, oh, I remember this road. I haven't taken 191 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: it in a long time. And like you said, the 192 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 1: environment is a big thing. I like if I if I, 193 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:31,959 Speaker 1: I don't know why I chose the soda habit. I 194 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:33,679 Speaker 1: haven't actually had a soda in forever, but it's a 195 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: good good model because I know a lot of people 196 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 1: have this temptation. Uh So in this case, in this example, 197 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: I'm drinking sodas in the office. So the office is 198 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,920 Speaker 1: the environment in which this behavior has become ingrained. So 199 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,239 Speaker 1: one thing that actually helps is stepping outside of the environment. 200 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: That that that that makes this behavior acceptable. Now, changing 201 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,680 Speaker 1: your environment is not a cure all, but it can 202 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,959 Speaker 1: disrupt some some of that that routine. And that's why 203 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:00,320 Speaker 1: going on a vacation is often side. It is a 204 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:02,560 Speaker 1: good example of a of a time to to try 205 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:04,800 Speaker 1: to break away from a routine. And it's also whining. 206 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 1: Vacations are often really comforting because we're breaking away from 207 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,320 Speaker 1: a number of routines, even if they're not necessarily you know, 208 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:13,439 Speaker 1: bad for us. Maybe they're just you know, you're you're 209 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: free from some of the change you weren't even aware of. 210 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 1: It was so much easier to slow down in that 211 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,320 Speaker 1: automated behavior, look at it and say, oh, why am 212 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:23,440 Speaker 1: I reaching for this? Why am I doing this? You're right, 213 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: because you don't have those environmental triggers. Now, there is 214 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: a kind of average of days, at least in one 215 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,120 Speaker 1: study that shows that there are certain habits that you 216 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:40,240 Speaker 1: can pick up good habits. Let's say and sixty six days. Now, 217 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,080 Speaker 1: this is the average of days that it took participants 218 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: to have a behavior become automatic. This is a study 219 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: led by Philippa Lally and she's a psychologist at University 220 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,480 Speaker 1: College London. So we are talking about this length of 221 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:59,319 Speaker 1: time varying anywhere from eighteen days to two hundred and 222 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,719 Speaker 1: fifty four. Sixty six was just the average. And some 223 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,680 Speaker 1: habits we're talking about, drinking a bottle of water after 224 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:08,360 Speaker 1: lunch turned out to be a lot stickier, only took 225 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: fifty nine days on the average. Because that's I mean, 226 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: how difficult is that you're just tipping the bottle. But 227 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: what about doing fifty sit ups each morning? Much harder 228 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,800 Speaker 1: to do nine one days. So other findings were that 229 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 1: missing a single day did not reduce the chance of 230 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: forming habits. That's good news. And a subgroup, it turns out, 231 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: took a lot longer than the others to form their habits, 232 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,559 Speaker 1: and this suggests that some people are habit resistant. And 233 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 1: of course other types of habits may take much longer 234 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: than make you know, two four days for instance, for me, 235 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: the sit ups that would that would be like three 236 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: sixty five days for me. So what about you? What 237 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,040 Speaker 1: would be the easiest thing and the hardest thing? Like 238 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:49,679 Speaker 1: what would take you eighteen days? And what would take 239 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: you well, I guess obviously something I enjoy doing. Um, 240 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:56,560 Speaker 1: A lot of people who who right are aware of 241 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:58,839 Speaker 1: this hundred words a day thing where the idea is 242 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 1: all right, life busy, but you really want to work 243 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 1: on you know, that novel or work on short stories, 244 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:06,440 Speaker 1: to write a little poetry. So you just make sure 245 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,280 Speaker 1: you take out time, just carve with just a sliver 246 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:10,880 Speaker 1: of time to do one hundred words, just you know, 247 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:12,960 Speaker 1: open up your your word document, you know, grab a 248 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 1: notebook on words and then you can move on. So 249 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 1: that would probably be easier for me, just because obviously 250 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 1: the reward, the reward is also in doing it. It's 251 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 1: something that I enjoy doing, and so that would be 252 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: something would be easier for me to do. And you 253 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 1: already have a huge writing muscle, yeah, exactly, so that 254 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: one would be easy. Also I'll have to do is 255 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: open a document or or grab a pet. But uh, 256 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 1: one of the would be much harder, and one that 257 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:39,160 Speaker 1: I also would very much like to do would be, 258 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 1: you know, to do yoga on a much more regular 259 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:44,960 Speaker 1: basis these days. But for that, obviously I've got to 260 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: carve out a much larger piece of time, like you know, 261 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 1: at least twenty minutes ideally like an hour. I need 262 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 1: to either go to a space where I can do 263 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 1: the yoga or find a space both uh, both physical 264 00:12:57,480 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 1: and mental in which to do it every day or 265 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:02,679 Speaker 1: a few days a week, and it becomes increasingly complex. 266 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 1: I read that if then statements help with us because 267 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: a lot of times we'll say we want to do this, 268 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: but when we find reasons not to do things, and 269 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 1: the idea is that instead of finding those reasons not 270 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:15,160 Speaker 1: to do it. You say to yourself, if it's Monday 271 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 1: and it's noon and I have thirty minutes, I'm going 272 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:21,960 Speaker 1: to go to X space and do yoga, and that 273 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: that becomes more of an action item in your brain 274 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:27,839 Speaker 1: as opposed to a plan. Really well, it's like a program, 275 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:30,439 Speaker 1: you know, because it reminds me like the settings and 276 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:32,080 Speaker 1: email if you've ever looked at that, where you can 277 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: set things like if this, then that then X. So yeah, 278 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: it's like and essentially that's what we're talking about, reprogramming 279 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:42,679 Speaker 1: the self to incorporate new actions or to in some 280 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,560 Speaker 1: cases eliminate other actions or choose one action over another. 281 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,560 Speaker 1: Of course, all of this requires self control and will power. 282 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:50,560 Speaker 1: And we'll take a quick break and when we get back, 283 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about this muscle of self control that 284 00:13:53,320 --> 00:14:03,559 Speaker 1: we can cultivate for ourselves. Okay, we're back, and we're 285 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:05,679 Speaker 1: going to talk about the role of self control and 286 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: willpower because of course, you can't just have this um 287 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: then like moment with your brain where you slow everything 288 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 1: down and you examine how and why you're doing things. 289 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,840 Speaker 1: You also have to have the will to change that habit. Yes, 290 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,960 Speaker 1: and we've we've podcasted exclusively on will in some past 291 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 1: episodes before and it's, uh, it's a fascinating topic because it's, 292 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: like most things in life, it's not quite what you 293 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: think it is when you actually stop and examine. Willpower 294 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: is not a a set level. It's not like you know, 295 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: playing Dungeons and Dragons where you you roll the dice 296 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: and you have that that set number that that you 297 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 1: may modify with some magical spells here and there. It's 298 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,320 Speaker 1: it's something that that fluctuates throughout the day based on 299 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 1: where we are, where our attention is at, what our 300 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: diet consists of, what kind of UH stimuli we're exposed to. 301 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:54,000 Speaker 1: And the good news is that it is a behavior 302 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: and not something that's hardwired, so it can be changed. 303 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: In fact, in a two thousand meta study of self control, 304 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 1: Mark Moravin and Roy F. Baumeister we've heard from him before, 305 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: they set out to answer the question does self control 306 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 1: resemble a muscle? And yes, they say if willpower is 307 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: like a muscle, and muscles can get stronger over time training, 308 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 1: will power similar can be trained and strengthened. And they 309 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:20,360 Speaker 1: found this and that meta study. In addition, Australian researchers 310 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: Megan Otan and Ken Chang looked at this question and 311 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: they took a group of people through a customized two 312 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: month exercise program. What do they find. Well, of course 313 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: the people get stronger, um they developed more muscles, but 314 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: they also found that their behaviors, their their self control, 315 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 1: their willpower changed with the addition of the actual physical muscles. Yeah, 316 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: this is pretty amazing, and that they threw out the example. 317 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: There's like a like a pebble in a lake, there's 318 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: this ripple effect. You start in stelling willpower into one 319 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 1: area of your life, and it actually bleeds over into 320 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:58,400 Speaker 1: other areas of your life because the overall willpower level increases. 321 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,760 Speaker 1: I was thinking about us in the context of the 322 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: bit we found out about how a full bladder can 323 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,400 Speaker 1: actually help with will power at least, you know, temporarily, 324 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 1: because if you have a full bladder, your brain is 325 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 1: suppressing the urge to p on yourself essentially, and as 326 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: a result, it is suppressing everything else. So not just 327 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:24,680 Speaker 1: you over eating at the buffet, but controlling your bladder 328 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 1: and perhaps not having a cigarette at that very moment. 329 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,760 Speaker 1: It's why drinking more water is such a no brainer 330 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:35,680 Speaker 1: for for New Year's resolutions, because more water good for 331 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 1: your body. You're mostly water anyway, right, you can you 332 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: can line up all the health and if it's there, 333 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: but your bladder is going to be more full more 334 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: of the time, thus allowing you to better suppress other 335 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: temptations in your life. There you go. That's a tip 336 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,720 Speaker 1: right there. More water. All right. So let's talk about 337 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: the specifics of the study. We're talking about again. A 338 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 1: two month period in which the participants hit the gym 339 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: three times a week, and before, during, and after the 340 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:01,840 Speaker 1: exercise that grew group was tested on a visual task 341 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: that measured willpower via distraction and thought suppression. Now, after 342 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: two months, the air rate went down for the group 343 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 1: from tree to twelve percent, So in other words, they 344 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: were able to not pay attention to those distractions to 345 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:19,680 Speaker 1: be more focused, and they had that decrease in their 346 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: brain just sort of going willy nilly about things. Yeah. 347 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:24,640 Speaker 1: And the crazy thing too, is that when I first 348 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:26,760 Speaker 1: started reading some of those thinking, all right, the other 349 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:28,480 Speaker 1: areas they're going to be affecting their life. It's going 350 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 1: to be like, oh, well they ate a little more 351 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 1: broccoli or something easy like that. But now the the 352 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:35,480 Speaker 1: improvements that they saw related to stuff like cigarette smoking, 353 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: alcohol consumption, held be eating, exercise, and household chore. So 354 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:42,560 Speaker 1: I mean the fact that cigarettes and alcohol were also 355 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: affected things that you often think. I was having their 356 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 1: talents a little deeper into the psyche um to see 357 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,160 Speaker 1: to see those areas affected as well by this ripple 358 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,360 Speaker 1: effect is really encouraged. Yeah, and the behavior was all 359 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: over the place. It might be that someone missed appointments 360 00:17:57,640 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: a lot, in which case they found that a purse 361 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 1: and went from missing an appointment every day to like 362 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,800 Speaker 1: once a week, or in the case of the cigarettes, 363 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:07,760 Speaker 1: down from fourteen cigarettes a day to just three. That 364 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: is amazing. Yeah. Alright, So coming back to the old 365 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: idea that we talked about at the beginning of the episode, 366 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,960 Speaker 1: the idea that I apply X amount of time towards something, 367 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: towards a new skill, a new discipline, a new subject. 368 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:23,160 Speaker 1: I can become an expert. I can make this my own, 369 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:27,680 Speaker 1: I can own this content. So yes and no. Alright, 370 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,359 Speaker 1: Because if you think about someone being a master of 371 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: their universe, you typically think of like then Franklin or 372 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:37,120 Speaker 1: Leonardo Adventure. These are people who were true polymus who 373 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:41,879 Speaker 1: could attack new topics, consume them and by habit they 374 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 1: could do this right now. Some people would say that 375 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: that was the hundreds of the world was much smaller. 376 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:51,200 Speaker 1: There are fewer tones to go through and become an expert. 377 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,439 Speaker 1: Now we have so much more knowledge, so it's a 378 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: lot more difficult, and you could say that in some 379 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 1: senses are our willpower, our ability to really concentrate has 380 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:04,160 Speaker 1: been deluded by all of this knowledge. But it remains 381 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:08,160 Speaker 1: that if you do something, namely repetition, that you can 382 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,840 Speaker 1: still learn new things, and you may even become an 383 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:14,919 Speaker 1: expert on you know that ten thousand hours that Malcolm 384 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,600 Speaker 1: Cloud will always talked about. That's a possibility in there too. 385 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: But if you just want to sort of pick up 386 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:24,160 Speaker 1: guitar or you know, stop smoking, drinking, all of these 387 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: things are available to you. You just need to document 388 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:33,680 Speaker 1: it and uh repeat wash repeat, yeah, making making a 389 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,639 Speaker 1: pattern of it, regularly consuming it. Be at a hundred 390 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: words a day, be a guitar lessons, or be it. Hey, 391 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:41,600 Speaker 1: here's a good one. You can listen to a new 392 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,000 Speaker 1: episode of stuff to blow your mind every day for 393 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:46,920 Speaker 1: a year. I think we have enough now, oh dear, yeah, yeah, 394 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 1: And you have to document it. This is the important part, 395 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:53,080 Speaker 1: and this is where we bring up Karen x Chang. Okay, 396 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 1: she is kind of then, I think the best example 397 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:59,119 Speaker 1: of this kind of muscle flexing of self control. Now, 398 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:02,399 Speaker 1: she not only was a program manager of Microsoft Excel. 399 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: At the same time that she was doing this full 400 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:06,360 Speaker 1: time job, she decided, oh, hey, I think I want 401 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,440 Speaker 1: to teach myself computer graphics. She did within a six 402 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: month period, and then she got a new job as 403 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: a designer at Exact, this is a startup in San Francisco. 404 00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: Along the way, she taught herself all sorts of things 405 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:22,160 Speaker 1: like guitar, and she began to realize that she had 406 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:27,359 Speaker 1: a process in place that could allow her to enjoy 407 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:30,919 Speaker 1: and explore all the things that she found fascinating. And 408 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: she started a website called give It one dot com. 409 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:39,399 Speaker 1: And this is based on her own video that went viral. 410 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 1: Some people may be familiar with this, in which she 411 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: taught herself to dance in a year and every day 412 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 1: she documented herself and it's a great video because it 413 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,119 Speaker 1: starts up with her doing these sort of awkward popping 414 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:54,359 Speaker 1: looks like I'm doing right now but you can't see, 415 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: and then she becomes this beautiful fluid dancer after three 416 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,159 Speaker 1: and sixty five days. So what what did she give it? 417 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:06,479 Speaker 1: A hundred off? Well, the idea is that one hundred 418 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: one hundred days is something that a person can sort 419 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,679 Speaker 1: of do like that what she did, although sort of 420 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: three sixty five light right. So in other words, you 421 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,399 Speaker 1: pick a project, you document yourself. Every day you upload 422 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 1: a video. I think there's only like ten to fifteen 423 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,520 Speaker 1: seconds of the video that shows on the site, but 424 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,800 Speaker 1: you can see real progress after a number of days. 425 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:28,320 Speaker 1: And that's one of the things that she says is 426 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:31,800 Speaker 1: really important in trying to learn something new or do 427 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,480 Speaker 1: something that you not just document that you do it 428 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: over and over again, but that you can see where 429 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: you're going with this. Yeah. Yeah, and so the YouTube 430 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,399 Speaker 1: us of YouTube here achieves that but also is a 431 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: great documentation system. Yeah. So, I mean, if anybody's interested, 432 00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: I would say check that out. Um. Personally, I'm playing 433 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,320 Speaker 1: around with the idea of doing that because I would 434 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 1: love to conquer the accordions are enough playing around with 435 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 1: a pretending like I'm in some Parisian cafe entertaining folks 436 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:03,919 Speaker 1: and having their ears bleed. Well, what you need to 437 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 1: do is do it on your drive to work. That's 438 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,200 Speaker 1: a great idea. Yeah, I think it would work, Okay, 439 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: I mean because things are pretty automated when when it 440 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: comes to driving, why not you get you get one 441 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: of those uh those little uh little cameras that going 442 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:20,960 Speaker 1: to dashboard, uh, turn it your yourself, and then every 443 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 1: morning is you drive to work, you're playing the accordion. 444 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:26,600 Speaker 1: I think that the lawyers of Discovery dot com are 445 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,440 Speaker 1: gonna love this. I think they will, and that secretly 446 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: they will love it. Um. But but I should also 447 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:34,480 Speaker 1: mention the hundred words a day thing. I was talking 448 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,080 Speaker 1: a bit earlier. Now I am remembering that in the 449 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: the official uh prescribed version of that, um, you are 450 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,400 Speaker 1: keeping track of your word count, like you're saying, yes 451 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:45,520 Speaker 1: I did, I did a hundred fifty day, I did 452 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: two d the day before and all that, so that 453 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 1: you you have some level of accountability too. That's because 454 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: presumably somebody is looking at your YouTube videos. Presumably somebody 455 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: is looking at you know, the little ticker that you 456 00:22:57,359 --> 00:22:58,880 Speaker 1: have at the bottom of your web page that says 457 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,600 Speaker 1: how many how many words you're you're pumping out? Yeah, 458 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: I don't know about give it one dot com but 459 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:05,879 Speaker 1: I do know the one hundred words a day. If 460 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: you don't write, they will send you an email a 461 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 1: little nasty Graham saying hey, you need to do this, 462 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:13,560 Speaker 1: which is always really helpful, and that's probably a good, good, 463 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:15,520 Speaker 1: good bit of info for me. Though. About all this 464 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: is because I should if I'm gonna do the hundred 465 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:19,400 Speaker 1: words a day, I should maybe do the official version 466 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,359 Speaker 1: to where there's a little more accountability and it's not 467 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,440 Speaker 1: just so I forgot for three weeks. Yeah, so, um, 468 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: you know, as I moved through this year and master 469 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: the accordion and then make everybody's ears bleed, how about 470 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: in six months time? Should we say six months we 471 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: we all meet back here in six months I'll play 472 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,480 Speaker 1: for you guys. Um, as I think about this, I'm 473 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: gonna think about that habit loop and those triggers, right um, 474 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,159 Speaker 1: and I'm gonna think about my little basil ganglia. I'm 475 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,920 Speaker 1: going to ask it to back off, although I might say, hey, 476 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: you can go ahead and do this when I get 477 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:51,920 Speaker 1: really good it becomes an automated behavior. But I'm also 478 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:54,880 Speaker 1: going to think about that repetition and uh, we'll see 479 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: after sixty six days to where I land on this 480 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: if this becomes pretty decent terms of my ability to play. 481 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:08,720 Speaker 1: All right, guys, thanks for listening. Hope that this episode 482 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,439 Speaker 1: helped your bring good, all nice and shiny for the 483 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 1: new year. Indeed, and hey, if you need some other tips, 484 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:17,160 Speaker 1: we let your head on over to stuff to Blow 485 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,240 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com because that's where you will find 486 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: all the podcast episodes, all the videos, all the blog 487 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:23,959 Speaker 1: posts we've ever done. There's a nice search bar at 488 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,480 Speaker 1: the top, and you can just top, you know, pop 489 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:29,800 Speaker 1: something in, pop in brain, pop in self help, pop 490 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:32,879 Speaker 1: in uh, you know, memory, and to see what you find. 491 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: You might have pop in fully clothed naked men, and 492 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:42,240 Speaker 1: you'll see what you get men with clothes on. All right, Um, 493 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:43,680 Speaker 1: if you wanted to send us your thoughts, you can 494 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 1: do so by emailing us that blow the Mind at 495 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: house to works dot com. For more on this and 496 00:24:51,560 --> 00:25:00,239 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.